Sherrington: Expectations high for struggling Valeri Nichushkin because Dallas Stars are losing team

3/11

Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports

Though hockey is the sport of choice in Russia, Nichushkin didn’t gravitate to it immediately. Nichushkin told Russian newspaper RIA Novosti in May that he also played tennis and handball growing up, adding “When I was a child, I didn’t care much about hockey.” Nichushkin said he settled on hockey at eight or nine.

Catch SportsDay On Air twice per week on Fox Sports Southwest, when Dallas Morning News experts discuss hot sports topics from the Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars, Rangers, high schools and colleges (check our TV listings for air times). Here are a few highlights from Thursday's episode featuring David Moore and Kevin Sherrington:

On the early season struggles of Dallas Stars
rookie Valeri Nichushkin:

Sherrington: “The
problem for a rookie, for them, is that any time a guy comes into a situation
with a losing team, and there’s a little bit of pomp and circumstance behind
his pick, then yes, there are expectations. If it was a better team: No, there
wouldn’t be.

Moore: “I think there are
more expectations because of the long playoff drought for this franchise. So
when you have a pick at that level and he comes and he doesn’t make an immediate
impact, you start going: 'OK, when’s it going to happen? When’s it going to
happen?' And as you say, they’re in a tough conference, and they’re down right
now. So it’s ‘(when) are we going to see this new team that we’ve been
promised?’”

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